A 10-year-old Albuquerque girl was brutally slain in her family’s Northwest Albuquerque apartment early Wednesday, hours before she was to celebrate her birthday at a party complete with manicures and cake.

Late Wednesday night, Albuquerque police released horrific details of the crime allegedly perpetrated by the girl’s mother, her boyfriend and another woman. APD spokesman Tanner Tixier said the trio injected the 10-year-old with methamphetamine “to make her calm down so they could do whatever they want with her.”

She was sexually assaulted by her mother’s boyfriend and the other woman, and Tixier said the mom showed “no remorse.” They then either stabbed or strangled her to death, Tixier said.

“What happened to this little girl is … horrific. It’s one of the worst things I’ve read in my entire life,” Tixier said, referring to the criminal complaint.

Amanda Wilson, one of the girl’s neighbors, said an officer told her the crime scene was one of the worst he had ever seen.

Around 11:30 p.m., the girl’s mother Michelle Martens, 35, and Martens’ boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, 31, were escorted from the police headquarters Downtown at Fourth and Roma to the booking center across the street.

Martens, who had a bloody gash on her face, didn’t answer questions from reporters waiting outside. But Gonzales addressed reporters and blamed the girl’s death on 31-year-old Jessica Kelley, who is also facing charges in the incident.

Kelley remained at the hospital Wednesday night, according to Tixier. He said she is the cousin of Martens or Gonzales, but he didn’t know which.

All three of them are being charged with child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping and tampering with evidence, among other things. Gonzales and Kelley were also charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor.

Laura Bobbs, a minister and close friend of the girl’s family, arrived at the scene at the Arroyo Villas Apartments near Golf Course and Irving around mid-day. She was sobbing and yelling.

“No, no, no, say it ain’t so,” she pleaded outside the crime tape. “Who does this to a little child? Oh Jesus. Oh what evil. What is happening to this world, that they would kill a little child?”

“When something like this happens to our community it has an effect on each and everyone of us,” he said. “I will assure the public that we will pursue justice and we will make sure that we exhaust every resource into this investigation.”

He said officers were first called to the scene around 4:30 a.m. for a reported battery.

“When (officers) arrived, they found a deceased victim,” he said. “The victim was 10 years of age.”

He did not release the girl’s name, saying not all of her family members had been notified.

Neighbor Pauline Quintana said the girl who was killed was outgoing and had seemed happy and excited Tuesday about her birthday. She was running around showing her neighbors a kitten and talking about her party.

Neighbors said the dead 10-year-old lived with Martens, Gonzales and her younger brother. A cousin had recently moved in with them, according to Quintana.

Gonzales has faced multiple previous criminal cases dating back to 2004, including a felony child abuse charge in August 2014. He pleaded no contest to misdemeanor abandonment of a child in February 2015, according to online court records.

Kelley has a history of felony drug-related charges and misdemeanor battery and domestic violence-related charges, most of which had been dismissed without prejudice.

Martens has no criminal history in New Mexico, according to online court records.

Wilson said the 10-year-old was best friends with her daughter and they spent nearly every day during summer break playing in the apartment complex’s pool. She said she didn’t know how to tell her daughter what had happened to her friend.

“My daughter’s going to be devastated; she knows something’s going on,” Wilson said. “She was looking for her at the bus stop.”

Bobbs said although she herself counsels people during grief, she is struggling to cope with the girl’s death.

“This is a mean and terrible world we are living in,” Bobbs said. “Such innocence. Why? She hasn’t done anything to anybody.”

“This homicide is the most gruesome act of evil I have ever seen in my career,” Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden Jr. said in a statement. “A complete disregard of human life and betrayal by a mother.”

Police said the girl had been drugged with methamphetamine, sexually assaulted and stabbed.

Police were called to the Arroyo Villas apartments in northwest Albuquerque about 4:30 a.m. Wednesday. The call was about an aggravated battery.

A woman, later identified as Martens, told police after they arrived that “someone killed her daughter” and the woman was still inside the second-floor apartment.

Gonzales, who was wearing bloodstained shorts, told police that he was cleaning himself up before officers got there, according to the complaint.

When the officers tried to get inside the apartment, another woman, later identified as Kelley, slammed the door shut and locked it with a chain. She then jumped from the apartment’s balcony, the complaint says, but was later arrested.

Meanwhile, the fire alarm inside the apartment went off. Officers went inside the smoke-filled unit to try to look for the child, the complaint says, and found her body in the bathroom. They also found bloodstains on the carpet of the girl’s bedroom.

Martens, Gonzales and Kelley are facing several charges, including child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and conspiracy, according to online jail records.

Gonzales also is charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor.

Gonzales denied any involvement in the child’s death and pinned the alleged crimes on Kelley.

“Jessica Kelley did it,” he told reporters as he was being arrested Thursday morning.

Tanner Tixier, spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, told reporters that what Gonzales said isn’t a lie.

“Not the whole truth,” Tixier said, “but it’s not a lie.”

Martens, who has a cut between her eyes, was followed by reporters as she was being arrested. Tixier said she showed no remorse when talking to detectives, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

Kelley remained at a hospital Wednesday night.

“This is a horrific tragedy for our community. When something like this happens to our community, it has an effect on each and every one of us,” Eden, the police chief, said at a news conference Wednesday afternoon. “I want to assure the public that we will pursue justice, and we will make sure that we exhaust every resource into this investigation.”

He said there are no other suspects in the case.

Methamphetamine, much of it provided by Mexican drug-trafficking organizations, is the foremost drug threat in New Mexico, according to a 2011 report by the Justice Department.

Methamphetamine represented about 25 percent of all drug reports in Albuquerque during the first half of 2013, according to a 2014 report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That’s a higher number than for drug reports involving cocaine and heroin and a bit lower than marijuana reports.

Victoria Martens’s death has rattled the northwest Albuquerque community where she lived.

Laura Bobbs, a minister and close friend of the family, was sobbing and yelling when she arrived at the Arroyo Villas apartments, which had been cordoned off with crime-scene tape, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

“No, no, no, say it ain’t so,” Bobbs said, according to the paper. “Who does this to a little child? Oh, Jesus. Oh, that evil. What is happening to this world, that they would kill a little child?”

She had planned a birthday party for the girl, who wanted manicures and pedicures instead of toys, Bobbs told the paper. She also bought her lip gloss and a necklace with the words “From Aunti Laura” engraved on the back, Bobbs said.

A neighbor, Paulina Quintana, said that the day before Victoria was killed, she seemed excited about her upcoming party.

“My stomach has been hurting. I’m crying off and on,” Quintana told the paper. “I think we’re all freaking out.”

By Thursday morning, a memorial of flowers, teddy bears, candles, butterflies and balloons had been set up outside the apartment.

A bouquet of yellow flowers sat by a tree outside Petroglyph Elementary School, where Victoria was a student.

“We cherish and protect our students and, like the rest of Albuquerque, are having a hard time wrapping our heads around the fact that someone could treat one of them so horrifically,” said a brief message on the school’s website.

In a statement, New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (R) called the manner in which Victoria was killed “atrocious.”

“What happened to this little girl is unspeakable,” she said, according to media reports, “and justice should come down like a hammer on the monster who committed this murder.”

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — On the day a girl was going to celebrate her 10th birthday, she was found dead in her family’s apartment by Albuquerque police officers, her dismembered remains wrapped in a burning blanket.

Details of what Gov. Susana Martinez and law enforcement officials described as an unspeakable crime emerged Thursday in a criminal complaint made public and filed against the girl’s mother, her boyfriend and his cousin. The three were taken into custody late Wednesday night.

Police say the girl was injected with methamphetamine,sexually assaulted, strangled and stabbed before being dismembered. They did not identify her because authorities were still trying Thursday to reach some relatives to notify them of the girl’s death.A caller told a police dispatcher before dawn Wednesday that there was a disturbance in the apartment, said Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden. Officers who went to the apartment complex in a middle-class neighborhood found the gruesome crime scene.

“This is a horrific tragedy for our community,” Eden told reporters. “I want to assure the public that we will pursue justice and we will make sure that we exhaust every resource into this investigation.”

By Thursday morning, a makeshift shrine for the girl had emerged underneath a tree at the apartment complex – with relatives and friends leaving flowers, balloons, stuffed animals and lit candles.

Martinez said in a statement the abuse and killing of the girl “is unspeakable and justice should come down like a hammer.”

The girl’s mother, 35-year-old Michelle Martens, her 31-year-old boyfriend, Fabian Gonzales, and his 31-year-old cousin, Jessica Kelley, face charges of child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping and tampering with evidence. Gonzales and Kelly have also been charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor.

Gonzales denied having anything to do with the girl’s death as he was led out of the police station in handcuffs late Wednesday as reporters yelled questions at him. The girl’s mother said nothing as she was led out and placed into the back of a police car.

KOAT reports that Kelley remains in the hospital, recovering from injuries police said she likely sustained while running from the scene. Police said she will be booked when she is released.

According to the criminal complaint, the mother told police Gonzales drugged the girl so he could calm her down and have sex with her. She said Kelley held her hand over the child’s mouth and she stabbed the girl in the stomach after Gonzales had choked her.

The complaint also states that the mother told investigators that Gonzales and Kelley dismembered the girl.

One of the police officers who arrived at the apartment found the girl’s body in a bathroom, rolled up in a blanket that had been set on fire. The officer put it out.

Gonzales has an arrest record stretching back to 2004, including a felony child abuse charge, driving while intoxicated and resisting arrest. It was unclear whether he was convicted of most charges, but he did plead no contest to a charge of child abandonment.
Kelley’s arrest record includes battery, domestic violence and drug charges – most of them dismissed. Online court records show no criminal history in New Mexico for Martens.

Mug shots of Martens and Gonzales released by police showed them with bruises on their faces. In his statement in the criminal complaint, Gonzales said his cousin hit him and Martens with an iron.

Laura Bobbs, a local minister, told the Albuquerque Journal she was planning the girl’s birthday celebration for when the child was supposed to arrive home from school Wednesday afternoon. They were going to have pedicures and manicures and eat cake.

Police were called to a northwest Albuquerque apartment complex at about 4:30 A.M. Wednesday following a report of a possible battery inside Marten’s apartment. When police entered the apartment, they found the naked, drugged body of the Martens’ 10-year-old daughter. The girl, whose name has not been released, was either strangled or stabbed to death.

Police say that Martens, Gonzalez, and Kelley injected the girl with methamphetamine in order to pacify her so they could have their way with her. They allegedly sexually assaulted her before killing her, according to Albuquerque Police Department spokesperson Tanner Tixier.

“What happened to this little girl is … horrific. It’s one of the worst things I’ve read in my entire life.”

Martens, Gonzalez, and Kelley were all bloodied and bruised when they were arrested, and authorities suspect they may have sustained the injuries fighting with each other following the rape and murder of the young girl. Jessica Kelley was taken to an area hospital for her injuries, and she will be booked into jail following her release from the hospital.

Meanwhile, New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez promised justice for the young girl.

“There are no words that can convey the sorrow and sadness I feel for the innocent child who was killed in this atrocious attack. What happened to this little girl is unspeakable, and justice should come down like a hammer on the monster who committed this murder.”

“What happened to this little girl is … horrific,” Officer Tanner Tixier, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said at a news conference Wednesday night.

The three injected the girl with methamphetamine “to try to calm her down so they could do what they want to this little girl,” Tixier told reporters.

Police said Gonzales and Kelley sexually assaulted the girl. Then, the three stabbed and strangled her.

Martens, Gonzales and Kelley are facing several charges, including child abuse resulting in death, kidnapping, tampering with evidence and conspiracy, according to online jail records.

Gonzales and Kelley also are charged with criminal sexual penetration of a minor.

Martens, who has a cut between her eyes and was wearing white coveralls, was followed by reporters as she was being arrested Wednesday night. Tixier said she showed no remorse when talking to detectives, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

Gonzales, who also was wearing white coveralls when he was arrested, tried to pin the alleged crimes on Kelley.

“Jessica Kelley did it,” he told reporters.

Tixier told reporters that what Gonzales said isn’t a lie.

“Not the whole truth, but it’s not a lie,” Tixier said.

Kelley remained at a hospital Wednesday night. She was injured while trying to escape from police, according to a local ABC affiliate.

She refused to talk to investigators, according to media reports.

During a news conference Wednesday afternoon, Albuquerque Police Chief Gorden Eden Jr. said investigators are not releasing the girl’s name because her other relatives had not been notified.

“This is a horrific tragedy for our community. When something like this happens to our community, it has an effect on each and every one of us,” Eden said. “I want to assure the public that we will pursue justice, and we will make sure that we exhaust every resource into this investigation.”

Eden said there are no other suspects in the case.

Methamphetamine, much of it provided by Mexican drug-trafficking organizations, is the foremost drug threat in New Mexico, according to a 2011 report by the U.S. Justice Department.

Methamphetamine represented about 25 percent of all drug reports in Albuquerque during the first half of 2013, according to a 2014 report by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. That’s a higher number than for drug reports involving cocaine and heroin and a bit lower than marijuana reports.

The girl’s death has rattled the northwest Albuquerque community where she lived.

Laura Bobbs, a minister and close friend of the family, was sobbing and yelling when she arrived at the Arroyo Villas Apartments, which had been cordoned off with crime-scene tape, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

“No, no, no, say it ain’t so,” Bobbs said, according to the paper. “Who does this to a little child? Oh, Jesus. Oh, that evil. What is happening to this world, that they would kill a little child?”

She had planned a birthday party for the girl, who wanted manicures and pedicures instead of toys, Bobbs told the paper. She also bought her a lip gloss and a necklace with the words “From Aunti Laura” engraved in the back, Bobbs said.

A neighbor, Paulina Quintana, said that the day before she was killed, the girl seemed excited about her upcoming party.

“My stomach has been hurting. I’m crying off and on,” Quintana told the paper. “I think we’re all freaking out.”

By Thursday morning, a memorial of flowers, teddy bears, candles, butterflies and balloons had been set up outside the apartment.

Toxicology tests later found that he had toxic levels of methamphetamines in his blood.

The condemned inmates on California’s death row are among the most closely monitored in the state. Death row’s 747 inmates spend most of their time locked down, isolated from the rest of the prison system under heavy guard with regular strip searches and checks every half-hour for signs of life.

Still, six death row inmates died between 2010 and 2015 with detectable levels of methamphetamines, heroin metabolites or other drugs in their system, according to Marin County coroner records.

Three of them had toxic levels of drugs, including one in whose intestines were found five snipped fingers of a latex glove, each packed with methamphetamine or marijuana. He had overdosed when they burst. A 70-year-old man among the three died of acute methamphetamine toxicity. He left a stash of marijuana in his cell.

State psychological reports and court files document at least eight non-fatal drug overdoses that required death row inmates to be hospitalized during this period.

Jones’ death was reported as a suicide. In the psych ward, he attempted to strangle himself with an electrical cord. He was cut free by officers but died 10 minutes later. The coroner’s report showed that Jones bore signs of chronic drug abuse.

State corrections officials declined to discuss the case or provide data on drugs found on death row — at first citing that investigation and then citing a wrongful death claim filed by Jones’ family. The department provided a statement saying the prison has thwarted past attempts by visitors to bring drugs into San Quentin.

According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics and the state prison medical office, the drug-related death rate in California prisons is seven times higher than that of prisons in the rest of the country.

“Drugs have considerable value inside prison and so some inmates have a very strong incentive to procure them,” the statement said. “Regardless of the security level of the inmate, the presence of any contraband items is concerning to us.”

The overdoses on death row mirror the larger problem with drugs in California’s prison system as a whole. From 2010 to 2015, 109 inmates died of overdoses, according to state figures.

California’s prison drug trade is notoriously robust. The drug-related death rate in California prisons — 18 deaths per 100,000 inmates in 2013 — is seven times higher than prisons in the rest of the country, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics and the state prison medical office.

Reports to the Legislature show that as many as 80% of inmates in some cell blocks tested positive for illegal substances in 2013. The same year, the state’s prison watchdog, the independent Office of Inspector General, chastised corrections officials for making “very little or no effort” to trace the source of drugs when inmates overdose.

A San Quentin administrator in 2013 told a federal judge that a surge in psychiatric hospitalizations involving psychotic, homicidal and suicidal condemned prisoners was not proof of untreated mental illness but “a bad batch of meth.”

“When you say ‘a bad batch of drugs,’ you don’t mean the drugs that you’re prescribing, you mean the illegal drugs that were on (the) block; is that right?” he asked.

Nevertheless, state corrections records show that in 2013 not a single visitor, volunteer or worker was caught trying smuggle drugs into San Quentin. Officials have not released information about drug cases beyond that one year.

A spokesman for the Marin County district attorney also said he could not recall any drug smuggling cases against San Quentin staff.

Prison drug-control efforts have focused on 11 prisons deemed to have the worst problems out of the 34 facilities in the system. The program employs drug-sniffing dogs and ion scanners to test swabs rubbed randomly on the hands of visitors and some staff. There are no such efforts on death row.

Death row inmates are strip searched regularly, including before and after leaving their cells to exercise, go to the law library or see visitors. Their cells are subject to random inspection and the state can order urine tests, though widespread drug testing efforts in 2013 were abandoned because few condemned inmates would comply.

By law, all condemned men are imprisoned at San Quentin, and by policy they are isolated from the rest of the population. The majority live on East Block, a long, granite structure that contains more than 500 cells stacked in tiers five high. The prisoners live in single cells and spend almost all of their time alone. Every half-hour, a guard walks by to check that the man inside is alive — a court-ordered protection against suicide. The doors are grated, so it is difficult to slip a sheet of paper through them.

Small groups of men are allowed to go out on tennis court-sized exercise yards under the watch of an armed guard standing overhead for a few hours, three days a week.

Except for chapel services twice a month, there are no other group activities. Condemned men are escorted individually, in chains, to prison hospital appointments or a special law library set aside for them.

Visits are tightly monitored. Visitors are allowed to bring in only handfuls of coins for the prisoners to use in vending machines. Before and after such contact, even with lawyers, the condemned are subject to strip searches.

Still, when discussing prison drug problems in the system overall, state officials primarily cite cases of visitors trying to smuggle in drugs. In one case, officials described how drugs were packed into soccer balls and thrown over the fence of minimum-security prisons.

But that explanation has met with skepticism from some lawmakers. “There can be only so many soccer balls,” said Senate Public Safety Chairwoman Loni Hancock, (D-Berkeley), at a hearing last year.

Because of the high security on death row, some who have worked at San Quentin suspect that the drug trade is abetted by prison staff.

During his tenure as a death row psychologist, Patrick O’Reilly said in an interview that he discovered a psychiatric technician bartering alcohol and amphetamines for inmates’ prison-prescribed opiates.

Similarly, the inspector general’s office reported that a death row officer in 2011 was accused of buying morphine from condemned inmates. The report states she paid with ramen noodles and candy.

Outside of death row, the trade takes place on an enormous scale. This spring, federal agents busted a Southern California prison narcotics ring in which a state drug counselor allegedly smuggled $1 million of meth and heroin sealed in potato chip bags to inmates in her treatment group.

The state prison guard union has long raised objections to vigorous screening of guards as they arrive and leave work, noting that the state would have to pay large amounts for the extra time that would add to each shift.

The union “supports the department’s efforts to keep drugs out of prison,” said spokeswoman Nichol Gomez. “Anyone who brings contraband inside prisons should be held accountable. … The majority of correctional officers take their oath seriously. ”

All of the men on San Quentin’s death row are there for murder. Many arrived on death row with long histories of drug addiction.

Most killed their victims during robberies or gang fights, but the population also includes psychopaths and serial killers. Until a psychiatric unit for the condemned was opened in 2014, severely mentally ill and psychotic inmates were housed with the rest of the condemned.

Former San Quentin Warden Jeannie Woodford, state prison director under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, said extreme idleness and the cramped, ill-suited confines of death row complicate drug abuse.

“Idleness is such a problem and it leads people to self-medicate,” Woodford said.

Although guards are supposed to randomly search cells each shift as a curb against drugs, weapons and other contraband, one former San Quentin corrections officer said staffing issues have made it impossible for guards to do all the required checks.

Moreover, the amount of property that condemned inmates accumulate over decades of confinement clutters many cells.

“What is said and what is done are two different things,” said Tony Cuellar, a former San Quentin officer.

In that environment, Cuellar said, officers “picked and chose” when to try to confront a condemned drug user.

PANAMA CITY, Fla. — An inmate now faces additional charges after he allegedly was caught smuggling narcotics into the Bay County Jail via methamphetamine-drizzled drawings of the sun, according to arrest records.

Two other people also have been arrested in connection with the scheme.

Bay County inmate Robert Daniel Eanes, 27, on Monday was the latest to be charged with smuggling contraband into a detention facility. Officers discovered through jailhouse phone calls and recorded visitations that Eanes allegedly had been getting “ice” methamphetamine delivered to him on a series of drawings sent through the jail mail service, court records indicated.

Heather Kristine Buehler, 29, and Christopher Charles Inns, 35, also have been charged in the case as senders of the letters. Eanes faces an additional $20,000 bond for the charge but already was being held without bond after he failed a urinalysis during his release on narcotics-related charges.

According to the Bay County Sheriff’s Office, Eanes devised a plan to have the two co-defendants send him narcotics through the mail system. He allegedly was receiving hand-drawn pictures of the sun, which had been saturated with a methamphetamine solution and then dried.

Once the picture arrived in the mail, Eanes could eat the picture and experience the effects of the drug while incarcerated, BCSO reported.

Eanes had been in jail since June, and officers got word of the mail scheme Aug. 10. Investigators reviewed videos of visitations between Eanes and Buehler, where Eanes would coach her on melting down a substance and putting it in the center of the sun on a hand-drawn picture, officers reported.

In one recorded phone call from Eanes, Inns said Buehler left a batch of letters at his house and that he had put them in his mailbox destined for the jail. BCSO reported that by doing so, Inns facilitated the contraband being delivered to Eanes.

Officers intercepted one of the packages, which contained three letters addressed to Eanes. Two of the envelopes contained greeting cards and photographs. The third had two notes that appeared to have been written by Eanes’ children and a hand-colored picture of the sun, which directly matched the instructions from the recorded conversations.

A sample taken from the center of the drawn sun tested positive for methamphetamine, BCSO reported.

Eanes already had been facing methamphetamine-related charges. He posted bond after an April traffic stop and discovery of meth, only to be arrested the next day during another traffic stop led to the discovery of meth, court records stated.

The arrests also violated probation for Eanes’ two co-defendants. Days before his arrest, Inns had pleaded no contest to drug-related charges and sentenced to three years of drug offender probation. Buehler was sentenced to three years of probation in 2014 for felony retail theft for stealing about $81 worth of merchandise from Wal-Mart.

Troopers from the Utah Highway Patrol found about 28 poundsof what they believe is methamphetamine Monday after pulling a vehicle over for speeding in Washington County.

About 1:30 p.m. Monday, a trooper stopped the vehicle near St. George, a news release said. During the stop, the trooper became suspicious of criminal activity and requested a UHP K9 crew.

When the K9 arrived, it pointed troopers to a hidden compartment in the back of the vehicle, where troopers found 18 packages of suspected methamphetamine, which weighed about 28 pounds, the release says.

The 29-year-old driver had picked up the drugs in Los Angeles and was en route to Michigan, the release said.

The Department of Public Safety’s State Bureau of Investigation is handling the ongoing investigation, the release said.

“Here in Utah, we’ve got quite a few interstates that come through our area, so we have a lot of interstate crime,” UHP Sgt. Todd Royce said. UHP’s interdiction unit is “very aggressive,” he said, in pursuing crimes that often take place in multiple states, such as drug, human-trafficking or kidnapping crimes.

A week ago, the Unified Police Department also made a traffic stop that yielded 68 pounds of methamphetamine after being alerted by the Department of Homeland Security.

Royce said he wasn’t aware of anything connecting the two busts, but he said “big drug busts back to back aren’t unusual.”

“Sometimes we get waves of drugs coming through the state,” Royce said. Sometimes it’s a coincidence, but other times it’s correlated, he said, due to things like harvest times for marijuana or law enforcement cracking down on meth labs.

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MONROE COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) — Meth is a problem in East Tennessee but now law enforcement is saying the problem keeps getting worse.

The drug seeps into walls, clothing and furniture. It’s made from common household increments. But if mixed incorrectly, huge fires can start.

“It’s just a never ending war,” said Dennis Graham, a narcotics agent for the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

It’s not just meth labs causing the problems. Over the past year, there’s been a switch from home meth labs to just buying the drug, Graham said.

“Labs are almost a thing of the past. The crystal meth, there’s so much of it here, it’s easier to go buy it than it is to make it.”

A gram averages $100 and an ounce varies between $800 to $1,000, according to Graham.

It’s being run in cars and semis up and down Interstate-75, he added. Some of the newest batches come from Mexico.

With more meth, there’s more crime to supply the habit.

Something as simple as Ph paper helps firefighters figure out what liquids are acids and which are bases during a drug bust. They have tools to identify gases and tools that identify solids to help avoid fires and explosions.

“It’s dangerous in several ways. You have these chemicals that are cooking and you have a bad element of people coming into your neighborhood,” said Capt. Robert Roche of the Knoxville Fire Department.

In a home with meth, carpets, clothing and furniture all need to be disposed of, often as hazardous waste, Roche said. That’s at the taxpayer’s expense.

“We get a lot of mobile meth labs. And even a mobile meth lab can be $3,000 to $4,000,” according to Roche.

A good sign someone might be cooking nearby is a chemical smell, similar to bleach, officers said. People on meth are very jittery and paranoid. Sometimes there’s even physical indicators like body scabs or messed up teeth.

BURLINGTON, Vt. – Police say it’s a disturbing symptom of the drug crisis– women who are so desperate for drugs that they sell their bodies for sex. It’s what police say allowed a former Burlington man to prey on young women. Police say there are at least six victims whose drug dependencies led them down a dark path of prostitution and abuse. And they say their dealer profited from it.

Burlington police say he preyed on the desperate. They say Timothy Galloway, 46, targeted drug-addicted Vermont women with nowhere to go and coerced them into prostitution to feed their habits.

“We have seen an uptick in human trafficking associated with the drug trade, most often in the form of drug dealers coercing addicts into performing sex for the profit of a drug trafficking organization. Often that coercion takes the form of providing and withholding drugs that people become addicted to,” said Eric Miller, United States attorney for Vermont.

That’s what police say Galloway did while he was renting a trailer in Farrington’s Mobile Home Park off North Avenue in 2014 and 2015. They say his victims would often be living here. Galloway would supply them drugs, arrange for them to have sex with customers there, at local hotels and private residences, and then take a share of the money to feed his own drug habit. According to court papers, Galloway would also threaten to withhold drugs from the women unless they had sex with him, too.

Neighbors say they noticed suspicious behavior. We spoke to one resident off camera who did not want to be identified, but she said the charges are disturbing and she’s worried about the safety of the neighborhood.

Police raided the home in December and say inside, they found evidence of drug and human trafficking including items that matched pictures advertising prostitution services online.

“The business model that’s used is an illicit one, but it’s also an effective one,” said Deputy Chief Shawn Burke, Burlington Police Department.

Burke says they’re seeing more cases that start as drug investigations and are soon tied to human trafficking.

“Once you’re a drug trafficker, you have a market of both drug consumers and then those so desperately addicted to opiates that they’re willing to engage in this type of conduct to feed their habit. That’s what’s most shocking,” said Burke.

He says the most disturbing part is that the victims are so desperate to feed their habit, they told police they felt they had no other choice.

Galloway was arrested in Massachusetts and is now behind bars in Vermont. He is charged with four counts of human trafficking and is being held for lack of $75,000 bail. He pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday in court.

Police say the arrests came after a joint investigation by the Skyline Task Force and Virginia State Police led to evidence of methamphetamine distribution at the home. The discovery was made when agents went to the home to serve a search warrant as part of a check fraud investigation. Police say that methamphetamine, packing material, scales and baggies were found during the search.

Baber was charged with possessing methamphetamine, and also arrested on a misdemeanor capias from Staunton General District Court.

Branch has been charged with possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute and two counts of child neglect. Two boys, ages 16 and 11, were staying in the room where the drugs were found. Police say the boys are related to one of the women and are now in the custody of other family members.

Both women are being held at Middle River Regional Jail.

Media Release from the Waynesboro Police Department:

The Waynesboro Police Department arrested two city women on various charges Friday afternoon. The arrest came after a joint investigation by the Skyline Task Force and Virginia State Police led to the discovery of methamphetamine distribution at a city residence.

Amanda Dawn Branch, 32 years old, and Sierra Nicole Baber, 18 years old, were both arrested after agents went to 318 13th Street, Branch’s residence, to serve a search warrant as part of a check fraud investigation.

During their search, agents found evidence of methamphetamine distribution. A second search warrant was obtained for narcotics. As a result, agents recovered methamphetamine and related packaging material, scales and baggies. Also, two boys aged 16 and 11, were staying in the room where the methamphetamine was found. They are related to one of the women.

Branch is facing the following felony charges:

Possession of methamphetamine with intent to distribute

Two counts of child neglect

Baber is facing one felony charge of possession of methamphetamine. She was also arrested on a misdemeanor capias from Staunton General District Court. Both women are being held at Middle River Regional Jail.

The two juveniles were given to the custody of other family members. The Department of Social Services was present and assisted with the case.

The Skyline Task Force is made up of members of the Waynesboro Police Department, Augusta County Sheriff’s Office, Staunton Police Department, Nelson County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia State Police, Virginia National Guard, Drug Enforcement Agency and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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A Gustine man hallucinatingunder the influence ofmethamphetamine landed in jail Monday after calling 911 saying several people were trying to kill him, the Merced County Sheriff’s Office reported.

Authorities believe the would-be killers probably were imaginary.

The guns and drugs deputies found in the man’s home, however, were real, Undersheriff Jason Goins said.

Isai Castro, 30, called 911 about 6 a.m. Monday reporting four or five armed subjects threatened to kill him. Castro said he was hiding in a field near his house before he hung up, Goins said.

“We found no evidence at all of anyone else out there and, based on his behavior, his paranoia, it appeared he was under the influence of methamphetamine,” Goins said.

Methamphetamine use is commonly associated with psychosis, which can include persecutory delusions and auditory hallucinations, according to the National Institutes of Health.

The Merced County Sheriff’s Office helicopter and deputies responded to the home in the 26000 block of Gun Club Road but could not find any armed suspects after looking in Castro’s home, which was left open.

When deputies went through the home, several guns were out in the open, and they smelled marijuana. After obtaining a search warrant, deputies found four guns, including one reported stolen from Milbrae in 2011 and an assault rifle with the serial number removed and a 30-round magazine, investigators said.

Deputies also found 77 marijuana plants and more than 10 pounds of marijuana plants in the drying process. The county allows 12 marijuana plants per parcel. Deputies also found methamphetamine, Goins said.

Castro was booked into the Los Banos jail on suspicion of drug possession, cultivating marijuana, possession of an assault rifle, maintaining a location to sell drugs and possession of stolen property. He remained in jail Tuesday with bond set at $75,000, booking records show.

Family arrested after SWAT team executes narcotics warrant

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —Four adults and two teenagers are facing drug charges, after an early morning bust in South Louisville. SWAT members and other officers with the Louisville Metro Police Department served a narcotics warrant to the family’s home in the 1300 block of Vim Drive around 12:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Walter and Candy Hudson have been charged in the case. The couple’s son Donavin Hudson and his girlfriend, Carlee Anderson, also face charges, along with two juveniles.

According to court documents, authorities found a marijuana grow operation in the attic of the home, along with more plants in the backyard. They found 57 marijuana plants total. They also found methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia.

SWAT team members were exposed to chemicals during the arrest process. An LMPD spokesman said the officers were treated on scene and they are fine. Authorities said Walter Hudson shot at officers when they entered the home, but no one was hit. In addition to drug charges, Walter Hudson faces four counts of wanton endangerment of a police officer.

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Comments Off on Derrick Dearman, 27, claims he was on Methamphetamine when he murdered 5 of his girlfriend’s family and friends in Citronelle

CITRONELLE, Ala. — Under arrest and shackled following the slaying of five friends in a rural home, a Mississippi man professed his love for the estranged girlfriend whose family and friends were massacred and blamed the killings on drugs.

Speaking with reporters as he was escorted to jail by deputies in Mobile, Alabama, Derrick Dearman said Monday that he was on methamphetamine when he went to the house, located at the end of a dead-end dirt road.

“Drugs (were) making me think things that’s not really there,” said Dearman, 27, hanging his head and dressed in a bright yellow jail uniform.

After the killings, authorities said, Dearman abducted estranged girlfriend Laneta Lester, who had sought refuge at the house, and a child of two of the victims. Dearman said he spared their lives because “I came down and realized what was really going on.”

“(I) turned myself in because I was sober and knew what was the right thing to do,” Dearman said.

In videotaped comments broadcast on Mobile-area television, Dearman expressed his love for Lester and apologized “to all the family members.” Dearman, saying all the victims were friends, added: “Don’t do drugs.” He said he doesn’t deserve to live.

A man who said his family provided a home for Dearman and Lester earlier this year near Leakesville, Mississippi, said Dearman was often on methamphetamine and physically abused Lester during walks in the woods in rural southeast Mississippi.

“He was taking her out there and beating the crap out of her,” said Charlie Passarelli Jr., who said he had known Dearman for years. Passarelli said he suspected Lester was either buying or selling drugs before he and Lester moved out in late spring.

The slayings left three men and two women dead, including a pregnant woman and her unborn child. A teenager who said she was related to all five victims by marriage or blood shook her head and fought back tears as she described her anguish over the slayings.

“They were really good people. They’d call and check on you, ask if you want to come down and eat,” said Madison McDaniel, 17, who lives near the scene of the violence.

Relatives of the victims started an online fundraiser to help cover funeral expenses, and clerk Dawn Sullivan collected donations in a plastic jug on the counter at D&B Quick Stop, where the victims often stopped for snacks and drinks.

“It’s a sad situation. It never should have gotten to that point,” said Sullivan, whose husband was related to one of the victims.

The crime was of a magnitude rarely if ever seen in that corner of rural, southern Alabama, Mobile County sheriff’s Capt. Paul Burch said.

“It’s unprecedented here,” Burch told The Associated Press.

Burch told CBS Mobile, Alabama affiliate WKRG-TV the victims had the kind of injuries that were a result of what experts term “overkill,” or excessive violence, and said there was a massive amount of blood at the crime scene, which he called “obviously … horrific.”

Mobile County District Attorney Ashley Rich told reporters that, in her 20-year career as a prosecutor, she’s never encountered a crime “where there were five people who were brutally and viciously murdered, and that’s what we have here.”

Dearman, of Leakesville, will be charged with six counts of capital murder, including one charge for the unborn child, Mobile County sheriff’s spokeswoman Lori Myles said. Alabama court records don’t indicate whether Dearman has an attorney who could speak on his behalf.

Turner was Lester’s brother and had let her stay at the house, which all the victims shared, McDaniel said. Turner and Randall were married.

“I’d always get on my horse and ride down there bareback,” McDaniel said. Her step-aunt Randall would say, “’Be careful because you’re already got a hurt knee.’ I’d say, ‘OK, Shan-Shan.’ That’s what I called her.”

Brown was Randall’s brother, McDaniel said, and Chelsea Reed was Randall’s niece. Chelsea Reed was pregnant with the child of her husband, Justin Reed, said McDaniel.

About 1 a.m. Saturday, someone inside the home called 911 and reported that Dearman was on the property, authorities said in a statement. Citronelle police came to the house, but Dearman had left before officers arrived, sheriff’s officials said.

Before daylight Saturday, Dearman returned to the home and attacked the victims while they were sleeping, the sheriff’s department said. Authorities said at least one gun and other, unspecified weapons were used.

After the killings, Dearman forced Lester and a 3-month-old identified by relatives as the child of Randall and Turner into a vehicle, and they drove to Dearman’s father’s house in Mississippi. Dearman released Lester and the infant and turned himself in, authorities said.

Comments Off on Karla Jenkins, from Florida, high on Methamphetamine, asks for help with ‘dead bodies’ under truck after driving into the Panama City Police Department parking lot

PANAMA CITY — A woman who admitted she was on meth drove into the Panama City Police Department parking lot seeking protection from “dead bodies” under her truck.

According to a report from the PCPD, about 11 p.m. Thursday an officer on 15th Street pulled over a Toyota truck that was “driving with its flashers on, blowing the horn and driving very fast and erratic.” The truck stopped in the rear parking lot of the Panama City Police Department.

The driver, later identified as Karla Jenkins, told the officer she was “running from dead bodies under her truck” and “thought one was missing a arm.” She was not able to produce a driver license.

The officer asked Jenkins to turn off her truck and step out. According to the report, her eyes were dilated, she was sweating and she had cold chills despite the heat of the night.

Asked if she was OK, Jenkins told the officer she was, “but she had done a little meth,” the report said.

Unable to perform a series of field sobriety evaluations, Jenkins was arrested and placed in a patrol car while a search was made of her truck. The officer found two open bottles of Skoll Vodka, one of which was empty and the other about 3/4 full.

Jenkins was taken to Bay Medical Center for a blood sample to be sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for analysis. She was booked into the Bay County Jail and charged with driving under the influence and was issued a citation for the open containers.

A Florida woman was arrested on Thursday after police said she arrived at the police station under the influence of meth and asked for help with the “dead bodies” under her truck.

Karla Jenkins was pulled over around 11 p.m. on Thursday in the rear parking lot of the Panama City Police Department after an officer observed her “driving with (the truck) flashers on, blowing the horn, and driving very fast and erratic,” the Northwest Florida Daily News reports. Police said she told officers “she was running from dead bodies under her truck” and she “thought one was missing an arm.”

Jenkins did not have a driver’s license with her and officers said her “eyes were dilated, she was sweating, and she had cold chills” even though it was warm outside. Police said she admitted to doing “a little meth” with officers finding two open bottles of vodka with one empty and the other mostly full.

She was arrested and charged with driving under the influence and was issued a citation for her open containers.

Comments Off on Former USC and Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich, 47, arrested after being found naked with Methamphetamine in stranger’s backyard by Irvine police

Former USC and Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich was arrested after he was found naked with methamphetamine in a stranger’s backyard by Irvine police investigating a call about a nude man wandering a nearby hiking trail, according to authorities.

Marinovich, who once bore the nickname “Robo quarterback,” was booked on suspicion of trespassing; possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine; possession of drug paraphernalia; and possession of marijuana, Irvine police Commander Mike Hallinan said Monday.

Officers took the 47-year-old Dana Point resident into custody about 11 p.m. Friday.

“It is a tragic story. We found him hiding in a backyard. Someone else’s backyard. We responded to a caller stating there was a naked person on Venta Spur Trail,” Hallinan said.

The call came in about 9 p.m. and officers began scouring the neighborhood. They found Marinovich naked in a yard on Bluecoat, the commander said. “He was carrying the items in a brown bag,” Hallinan said.

Marinovich has waged a very public struggle with drug addiction and has at times offered advice to others with similar issues. In recent years, the father of two has worked as an artist, painting public murals and other pieces.

Growing up in Orange County, Marinovich was a football standout at Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana and Capistrano Valley High, then went on to play for USC, where he led the Trojans to a Rose Bowl victory in 1990. He was later drafted by the then-Los Angeles Raiders, but let go after two seasons.

In the late 1990s, he pleaded guilty to cultivating marijuana and illegally possessing prescription medications.

A brief career in arena football came to an end several months after he was arrested for heroin possession in 2000.

Marinovich was arrested for drug possession in 2005 and once again two years later.

IRVINE, Calif. — Former USC and Los Angeles Raiders quarterback Todd Marinovich has been arrested after being found naked with marijuana and possibly methamphetamine in a stranger’s backyard in Southern California.

Irvine Police Cmdr. Mike Hallinan said Monday that Marinovich was arrested Friday night after a call saying a naked man was on a hiking trail near homes. The officers found him in a backyard holding a brown bag containing marijuana and a substance that appeared to be meth but police are awaiting lab results.

The 47-year-old Marinovich was a star quarterback at USC and the Raiders’ first-round draft pick in 1991, but drug problems drove him from the NFL after two seasons and he has had repeated run-ins with the law over drugs in the decades since.

Contact information for Marinovich or an attorney who could comment for him could not immediately be found.

A Mohave County grand jury indicted Deanna Marie Tucker, 49, Thursday on felony charges of possession of dangerous drugs for sale, possession of narcotic drugs for sale, transportation of dangerous drugs for sale, transportation of narcotic drugs for sale, three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, possession of marijuana and tampering with physical evidence.

Tucker flagged down a police officer Aug. 9 near Rainbow Drive and Highway 95 to report a stolen car. The officer smelled a strong odor of marijuana and searched the car she was in. She also turned over a container of marijuana to police, according to Bullhead City police spokeswoman Emily Fromelt.

Police also found heroin in a plastic baggie and methamphetamine all over the floorboard of the car.

Tucker also allegedly had meth hidden on her and tried to crush it up and destroy the drug as she sat in the back of the patrol car.

A search of the car revealed 11 grams of heroin and about 3.1 grams of meth, Fromelt said.

In the vehicle she was in while making the report, officers reportedly could smell a strong odor of marijuana. Fromelt said Tucker then turned over a container of marijuana to officers.

Officers then asked for permission to search Tucker’s purse, Fromelt said, which was sitting on her lap.

When she turned over her purse, officers reportedly saw a clear plastic baggie between Tucker’s legs, containing a substance that appeared to be heroin.

Some drug paraphernalia and marijuana were also found in the vehicle, Fromelt said.

Tucker was then placed in a patrol vehicle, the backseat area of which officers later “saw had methamphetamine all over the floorboard,” Fromelt said.

“Tucker had meth concealed on her person and attempted to crush it up and destroy it with her hands and feet while in the back of the patrol car,” she said.

Paramedics took Tucker to the hospital under the suspicion she ingested some of the meth, Fromelt said.

A search of the vehicle reportedly turned up about 11 grams of heroin and about 3.1 grams of meth.

Once she was medically cleared, Tucker was booked on suspicion of possession of dangerous drugs, possession of dangerous drugs for sale, possession of narcotic drugs, possession of narcotic drugs for sale, possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, transportation for sale of a narcotic drug and tampering with physical evidence.

She was taken to the Mohave County Jail in Kingman.

Tucker was released Wednesday on her own recognizance. No information on a court date was immediately available.

NOGALES, AZ – On the evening of Oct. 14, 2015, a customs officer was working at an inbound traffic lane at the Dennis DeConcini Port of Entry when she heard a scuffle approximately 15 feet away, court records show.

The officer then heard a man shout that someone had punched him and stolen his bicycle.

The assailant was subsequently detained when he tried to cross into the United States through the port while riding a bicycle. He was identified as Jorge Andres Tolano and taken into custody by Nogales Police Department officers.

After pleading guilty to a Class 5 felony count of robbery, Tolano, a 27-year-old Rio Rico resident, was sentenced Aug. 1 at Santa Cruz County Superior Court by Judge Anna Montoya-Paez to 1.5 years in prison, with credit for 194 days already served.

At the time of his detention, Tolano was reportedly sweating profusely and claiming that a Mexican cartel was after him to kill him. He also told a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer that the owner of the bicycle made hand gestures at him as if he were going to shoot him.

He told a probation officer a similar story during a pre-sentence interview on July 26, though this time he said the owner of the bicycle was making gestures as if he were going to hit Tolano, so he hit him first. When the bike owner started running toward Mexico, he said, he ran after him but then turned around and headed back toward the United States, grabbing the bicycle on the way.

According to his case file, Tolano denied using illegal drugs, yet tested positive for methamphetamine on the day he was arrested.

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Comments Off on Dallas Methamphetamine dealer Iran Zavala, 28, who crashed into sailboat on Dallas lake, gets 20 years in prison

A Dallas man was sentenced last week to almost 20 years in prison after he tried to sell over 4 poundsof methamphetamine to an undercover officer and then drove his car into a lake while fleeing police.

Iran Zavala, 28, pleaded guilty in April to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

On June 29, 2015, Zavala agreed to sell 2 kilograms of meth for $32,000 to an undercover officer, court records show.

The officer, Zavala and his accomplice, 29-year-old Santiago Veliz, were to meet July 2 at a gas station on North Belt Line Road in Grand Prairie.

But before that, Zavala was pulled over by Grand Prairie police. He sped off in his Ford F-150 and threw the meth and a gun out the window as he drove, police said.

The police chase ended when Zavala drove his car into Mountain Creek Lake and crashed into a sailboat near a boat ramp.

Zavala is also charged with aggravated assault of a public servant after Grand Prairie police say he intentionally drove his pickup toward an officer trying to place spike strips on the road to deflate his tires.

The officer had not yet taken the spikes out of his trunk when he saw Zavala’s car swerve directly toward him at about 70 mph, police records show.

The officer jumped inside his squad car “to protect himself as best as he could,” according to the police report, and Zavala missed the car “by just a few feet.”

Zavala’s accomplice, who was also in the pickup, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute methamphetamine in May and will be sentenced in October.

Veliz faces up to 20 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.

Police identified the suspect early Monday morning as 36-year-old Ricky Anderson of South Portland.

Anderson, who is being held without bail at Cumberland County Jail, has been charged with six counts — Class D domestic violence criminal threatening, Class D criminal mischief, Class D obstructing the report of a crime, Class D domestic violence assault, Class B unlawful operation of a Methamphetamine laboratory and Class D unlawful possession of Methamphetamines.

According to police, South Portland PD officers responded to a domestic violence-related complaint at 497 Westbrook Street (Olde English Village) around 5:10 p.m. Sunday. Anderson’s girlfriend reported the incident, telling police she had been assaulted and threatened by her boyfriend, who was still inside the apartment. Police said she also indicated the presence of a mobile Methamphetamine lab inside.

When police arrived, the suspect refused to come to the door or answer his phone.

Due to the extreme toxicity and volatility of methamphetamine manufacturing, police said they responded heavily to secure the safety of other residents of the densely populated complex.

Law enforcement established a perimeter and evacuated the building. Upon double-checking each apartment to make sure it was unoccupied, police located and removed and elderly woman.

After several attempts to get Anderson to exit, police said members of the SWAT team entered and took the suspect into custody around 9:10 p.m. Members of the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency (MDEA) Clandestine Lab Team subsequently aided in inspecting the apartment. Evidence of a meth lab was later recovered.

Residents of the apartment building were allowed to return at 10:30 p.m.

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Comments Off on Jian Tat Ng, 22, and Chin Yeung Ng, 27, from Hong Kong, jailed over record $320m Methamphetamine haul in Western Australia

TWO Asian men connected to the biggest methamphetamine haul seized by police in West Australian history have been jailed.

Jian Tat Ng, 22, and Chin Yeung Ng, 27, were among four men charged in September last year after raids on a Canning Vale home and at an apartment and hotel room in Perth’s CBD uncovered 320 kgof the drug, worth an estimated $320 million.

The District Court of WA heard during sentencing on Monday that the pair were found with about 5 kg of high-purity methamphetamine and $385,000 in their Adelaide Terrace apartment.

When Chin came to Australia he had difficulty finding work in Sydney and Brisbane.

But in Melbourne, he met Jian and got a job handing out pamphlets for a brothel, and was approached to warehouse the drugs for HK $10,000, which he never received.

For a young man who wasn’t worldly, had intellectual limitations, wanted to send back money to his family and was worried about his ill mother, he was an obvious target for the drug syndicate, Judge Anthony Derrick said.

“The proposal that was put to you was too good to be true,” he said. “You were to some extent a pawn.” But he also planned to sell and use 42.2 grams of meth he separately stashed in Jian’s bedroom.

Judge Derrick told Chin that while he was not going to share in a huge profit, he nonetheless played a key role in the syndicate, acting as a “critical conduit” between suppliers and purchasers.

“You were playing an important role in disseminating methamphetamine into the community,” Judge Derrick said.

Jian, who lived in Malaysia before coming to Australia and had proceedings interpreted into Cantonese, derived no benefit from storing the drug, the court heard.

Chin was jailed for 12 years and will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years.

Judge Derrick noted Chin’s mother only had a few years left to live and it was unlikely he would ever see her again.

“This is tragic,” he said.

Jian was sentenced to two years and six months in jail, and will be eligible for parole after 15 months behind bars.

Two other men allegedly connected to the syndicate have pleaded not guilty and will stand trial.

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Comments Off on Nearly 1,800 Killed in Philippine Drug War, Top Police Official Tells Senators

MANILA — Killings by the police and vigilantes in the Philippines’ war on drugs have soared to nearly 1,800 in the seven weeks since President Rodrigo Duterte was sworn into office, the nation’s top police official told a Senate hearing on Monday.

Under Mr. Duterte, who campaigned on a pledge to rid the country of drug dealers, 712 suspects have been killed in police operations, National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa said. Vigilante killings have totaled 1,067 during the same period, he said, although it was unclear how many were directly related to the illegal drug trade.

The numbers represent a huge increase over those cited by the police last week, when they put the total at more than 800 since Mr. Duterte’s election on May 9. The new figures do not include killings that occurred between the election and his inauguration on June 30.

The police did not explain the sudden increase. Senators are expected to question them about the tally on Tuesday during a second day of joint hearings by the chamber’s committee on justice and human rights and the committee on public order and dangerous drugs.

Mr. Duterte is said to have incited the wave of killings with his vow to eradicate crime. He has said the police should “shoot to kill” when they encounter members of organized crime or suspects who violently resist arrest.

Human rights advocates have been horrified by the killings, but Mr. Duterte’s popularity has soared among a large segment of Filipinos weary of crime and enthusiastic about his pledge to rid the country of drug dealers.

Senator Leila de Lima, a longtime Duterte opponent who led the hearing on Monday, called on the government to end the killings.

“I strongly believe extrajudicial or extralegal killings, whether perpetrated by the state or by nonstate actors, must stop,” she said. “Blatant disregard for human life has to stop.”

Richard Javad Heydarian, who teaches political science at De La Salle University in Manila, said many members of the public were giving Mr. Duterte wide leeway to deliver on his promise to suppress the drug scourge within three to six months. Mr. Duterte’s “shock and awe” approach reflects not only his commitment to eradicating drugs, Mr. Heydarian said, but also extremely high public expectations.

“The more fundamental question at this point is, why the seemingly unprecedented support for the new president despite global criticism of his uncompromising approach?” he said. “I think it largely has to do with dissipated public trust in existing judicial institutions, a sense that the normal democratic processes are not coping with the magnitude of the crisis.”

In recent days, the president has lashed out at critics. On Sunday, he threatened to withdraw from the United Nations after two human rights experts from the world body urged the country to stop the killings. Mr. Duterte’s foreign minister later said the Philippines would not take that step.

Last week, Mr. Duterte sharply criticized Ms. de Lima, calling her immoral and accusing her of receiving money from drug dealers, a charge she emphatically denies.

On Monday, the senators heard from two women whose family members had been killed by the police.

Mary Rose Aquino, who testified wearing a bandanna, sunglasses and a hooded sweatshirt so she could not be recognized, said her parents were found dead on June 20. Her father had been an informant for corrupt police officers who would raid dealers and take the drugs for themselves, she said. Sometimes the officers would smoke methamphetamine at their home, she said.

“I know who they are,” she told the senators. “I can recognize their faces, others by their names. My father was a police asset who informed police what houses to raid. They would then resell the drug.”

She said her parents had planned to get out of the drug trade, and she blamed the police for their deaths. She and her siblings have been hiding from the police since their parents died, she said, sobbing.

The senators also heard from Harra Kazuo, whose husband, Jaypee Bertes, and his father, Renato Bertes, were killed by the officers inside the Pasay City police station after they were arrested.

She told the committee that the police had been extorting money from her husband, a small-time drug peddler. She said he had been preparing to surrender to the police because he was afraid he would be killed. About 600,000 people suspected of being drug dealers or users have turned themselves in to escape being killed since the antidrug campaign began, the authorities have said.

Wearing large sunglasses and partly covering her face with a shawl, Ms. Kazuo told the senators that the police had beaten her husband and threatened to shoot him if he did not hand over his drugs, but that he had nothing to give them. The police strip-searched their 2-year-old daughter looking for drugs, she said. Renato Bertes arrived in the middle of the commotion, and the police beat him for insisting they show him a warrant, she said.

“If you want, we can shoot you all here,” Ms. Kazuo said one officer told them.

At the station, the police severely beat the two men, breaking her husband’s arm, according to a forensic report. The police said the two had tried to grab their guns and escape. Each man was shot three times.

Ms. Kazuo, who is seven months pregnant, said she had visited them at the station before their deaths and had seen that her husband was in poor condition. He asked for a doctor.

“He was leaning on the bars and had a hard time standing,” she said. “He had a difficult time speaking. That was the last time I saw them alive.”

After the hearing, Chief dela Rosa said he was surprised by the women’s testimony, which he said contradicted official reports. The Bertes case was rare, he said, because the two were killed inside a jail cell.

He said he would investigate Ms. Aquino’s account of police behavior.

“I will not tolerate this,” Chief dela Rosa said. “I myself will find these policemen.” But he said the campaign against drugs would not stop, because the police had orders from the president to eliminate drugs.

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Comments Off on Melissa A. Stewart, 39, of Eau Claire, charged for exposing her 7-year-old daughter to Methamphetamine

An Eau Claire woman faces a criminal charge after police say she exposed her 7-year-old daughter to methamphetamine.
Melissa A. Stewart, 39, 5221 Glenbrooke Drive, is charged in Eau Claire County Court with a misdemeanor count of child neglect.

Stewart is free on $2,000 signature bond and returns to court Sept. 22. As a condition of bond, she cannot have contact with her daughter without the approval of the Eau Claire County Human Services Department.
According to the criminal complaint:
An Eau Claire police officer received a report July 13 from a child protective services worker that Stewart was using methamphetamine around her 7-year-old daughter.
The officer contacted Stewart at her residence, and she denied any illegal drug use.
The officer looked at Stewart’s arms and saw evidence of intravenous drug use.
The officer found a plastic bag with methamphetamine in Stewart’s bathroom.
Hair follicle tests from both Stewart and her daughter were positive for methamphetamine.
The girl’s grandmother told the officer she was concerned about Stewart’s drug use around the girl.
The girl once found a needle in her bedroom closet and brought it to her grandmother.
Tests conducted by the Eau Claire City-County Health Department showed the presence of methamphetamine in the 7-year-old girl’s bedroom dresser, bedroom ceiling and bedroom wall.

CIRCLEVILLE – Three people were arrested Friday after employees at a local motel discovered the remnants of a possible methamphetamine cook.

Tabitha Munson, 37, and Jesse James Day, 21, both of Circleville, are charged with illegal assembly of chemicals, a third-degree felony. Dustin Reed, 32, also was arrested in connection with the incident and was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a fourth-degree felony.

According to Deputy Chief Robert Chapman, officers from the Circleville Police Department responded to the Budget Host Inn on U.S. Route 23 on a report of smoke coming from a dumpster.

Upon arrival, a motel employee reported they removed a plastic grocery bag from the dumpster that contained two plastic bottles emitting smoke and chemical fumes.

The Circleville Fire Department responded to the scene, Chapman said, and the items were found to be contraband believed to be the remnants of a possible meth cook.

The investigation led to the arrest of Munson and Day on the drug charges.

Reed, who was implicated in the meth operation, was stopped by officers near the scene and found to be in possession of a loaded .22 caliber handgun.

All three suspects were taken to the Pickaway County Jail, Chapman said.

Comments Off on 15 Kilos of Methamphetamine and Drugs (33 Pounds) Seized in Largest Drug Bust in Chautauqua County History; Juan Pacheco, 34, of Jamestown, Arrested

JAMESTOWN, N.Y. — Thirty-three pounds of cocaine, methamphetamine and marijuana seized Thursday from inside a Jamestown home is, according to police, the largest drug bust in Chautauqua County history.

Juan Pacheco, 34, of Main Street in Jamestown could face between 8 and 20 years behind bars if convicted, according to the Jamestown Police Department.

“If anybody believes these drugs were just destined for Jamestown, we don’t have the population to sustain that weight, so he is definitely an upper-level dealer who is providing drugs outside the City of Jamestown,” said Jamestown Police Chief Harry Snellings.

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Comments Off on Farmington Officials fight heroin, but Methamphetamine scourge remains in northwest New Mexico

While the number of heroin-related arrests in San Juan County has grown in the past three years, meth is still more prevalent in northwest New Mexico

FARMINGTON — Local public health officials are fighting a growing opiate epidemic as lawmakers in Congress debate how to fund the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act, a bipartisan bill passed in July that would strengthen prevention, treatment and recovery efforts nationwide.

The U.S. saw a four-fold increase in heroin-related overdose deaths between 2002 and 2013, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

New Mexico has the second-highest rate of drug overdose deaths in the country, second only to West Virginia, the CDC states, and 61 percent of those deaths resulted from an opiate, which includes heroin.

A rise in heroin use has paralleled an increase in the prescribing of opiate medication to treat chronic pain, which the CDC says is contributing to the current epidemic.

Though the number of heroin-related arrests in San Juan County has grown in the past three years, methamphetamine remains the drug of choice in northwest New Mexico. And the meth problem appears to have significantly worsened in the past three years. Officials say opioid treatment efforts can be expanded to deal with other substance addictions.

Rep. Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico, spoke with reporters Tuesday in a media conference call about the need for federal funding to address opiate addiction, a “serious issue that is tearing apart the fabric of our communities.”

In May, Luján introduced the Opioid and Heroin Abuse Crisis Investment Act, which would authorize the expenditure of $1.2 billion over the next two years to combat heroin and prescription pill abuse.

The bill was co-sponsored by 90 Democratic House members, but it died in a subcommittee not long after it was introduced.

Luján said Tuesday that congressional Republicans have stymied efforts to secure funding for the issue. Republicans have said funding should be addressed in the appropriations process.

Rep. Steve Pearce, R-New Mexico, said in an emailed statement that signing the Comprehensive Addiction Recovery Act, or CARA, into law was significant for states such as New Mexico.

“For too long, drug abuse has plagued our communities, and it is time to put forward solutions that can help people affected by addiction,” Pearce said. “The bill passed by the House, Senate, and signed into law ensures Americans struggling with drug abuse have access to important resources in their local communities.”

Pearce did not answer questions on how Congress would fund the bill.

“For every one dollar you invest in effective addiction treatment, it pays itself back seven times in the savings to society, in reduced health care costs and the cost of repeated incarceration.”

Dr. Eric Ketcham of the San Juan Regional Medical Center

San Juan County reported 111 overdose deaths from 2010 to 2014, a rate of about 18.2 deaths per 100,000 residents. New Mexico reported 2,464 overdose deaths in that same period, a rate of 24.3 deaths per 100,000 residents.

Sgt. Kevin Burns of the Region II Narcotics Task Force provided statistics that indicate the number of meth arrests more than doubled between 2013 to 2015, from 143 cases to 310 cases in 2015.

So far, there have been 157 meth arrests in 2016.

Meanwhile, the agency has reported only 110 heroin cases in the past three years.

Dr. Michael Botticelli, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, joined Luján in Tuesday’s media conference call.

“I have been doing this work for a very long time, and I want to make sure that we are treating the spectrum of drug issues.”

Dr. Michael Botticelli, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy

Botticelli said that although funding from CARA would be focused on opiate treatment, the funding would expand the nation’s rehabilitation infrastructure and improve awareness of the need for treatment, which would also help in meth treatment.

“I have been doing this work for a very long time, and I want to make sure that we are treating the spectrum of drug issues,” Botticelli said.

Burns said the sharp increase in meth arrests was due in part to a significant drop in the price of the illicit stimulant, which is increasingly manufactured in Mexico and smuggled into the United States.

“Right now, you can get a pound for $3,000 to $5,000,” Burns said. “Five years ago, it was nearly double that.”

Burns cautioned that the arrest numbers reflect only the individuals who are caught, and heroin use is a growing problem.

Dr. Eric Ketcham of the San Juan Regional Medical Center has said he became aware of the opiate epidemic in 2009 when the hospital’s emergency room began to see an increase in the number of opiate-dependent patients requesting narcotics.

“Many of our patients have been dependent on opiates for years. Some started right away with heroin. Many started very young, when they were teenagers, and it was provided by friends and family members.”

Dr. Eric Ketcham of the San Juan Regional Medical Center on patients at New Mexico Treatment Services, a Farmington-based methadone and buprenorphine clinic

In March, he became the medical director of New Mexico Treatment Services, a Farmington-based methadone and buprenorphine clinic.

Ketcham said the clinic currently treats 75 patients, about three-fourths of whom primarily used heroin before treatment. He said the majority of patients first used opiate medication, but then developed a habit and turned to heroin, which is cheaper and more easily accessible.

“Many of our patients have been dependent on opiates for years,” he said. “Some started right away with heroin. Many started very young, when they were teenagers, and it was provided by friends and family members.”

Ketcham said several people admitted into the clinic since it opened two years ago have managed to quit opiates, and many more have managed to maintain stable home environments and find work while in rehabilitation.

“Once our patients are in treatment, they are back in school, they are back to work, they are not committing crimes, and they are healing with their families,” Ketcham said. “It really is amazing.”

Brian Goodlett is program director of the treatment center, which also has offices in Albuquerque, Española and Santa Fe.

He said he sees more patients in San Juan County who use meth in combination with heroin, but otherwise addiction affects the community in the same way.

“The thing that I always point out to people: we have this preconceived notion of what an opiate addict looks like, but the truth is the disease of addiction does not discriminate,” Goodlett said. “I have seen people from all walks of life, all incomes.”

Both men said meth addiction was more difficult to treat than heroin. Unlike heroin, there is no drug replacement, like methadone or bupenorphine, that patients can receive while in treatment.

Goodlett and Ketcham both said they supported federal funding for CARA. Ketcham said the cost of treatment medication is high, and many patients do not have access to adequate care.

New Mexico Treatment Services is the only methadone clinic in San Juan County, and buprenorphine must be administered by a trained physician.

“For every one dollar you invest in effective addiction treatment, it pays itself back seven times in the savings to society, in reduced health care costs and the cost of repeated incarceration,” Ketcham said.

New Mexico Treatment Services is located at 607 E. Apache St. Individuals seeking treatment can contact the clinic’s hotline 24 hours a day at 505-360-6032.